Strong In The Real Way
by Smashing Skunk53
Summary: On their way to Namek, Gohan is forced to go on his own on an alien planet. While there he learns of an oppressive tyrant that has been terrorizing the locals. Gohan takes it upon himself to stop this "Galactic Conqueror". Does he have what it takes going solo? Is this conqueror really that bad of a person?-One-shot, AU


Summary

On their way to Namek, Gohan is forced to go on his own on an alien planet. While there he learns of an oppressive tyrant that has been terrorizing the locals. Gohan takes it upon himself to stop this "Galactic Conqueror". Does he have what it takes going solo? Is this conqueror really that bad of a person?-One-shot, AU

The Namekian craft flew through space at a near impossible speed. Though not the most graceful of ships, the way it moves through the stars in its protrusive form was still a sight to see. The organic shape dashed the stars unchallenged, the sole traveller on the open sea of stars.

" **Balrgh!"**

The majesty and serenity of its travels were not shared with its occupants however.

Gohan rubbed Krillin's back soothingly as he continued to heave his stomach into trashcan. His other hand pinched his nose, a feebly attempt to keep out the overwhelming stench of the upchucked food.

Krillin groaned loudly. He pulled his head up for some fresh air. "I should've have known better than to let that woman touched raw food that this would happen." He then glared at the boy behind him. "This is your fault." His attempt at to threaten Gohan didn't work too well with the sickly sheen of sweat on his face.

"How is it my fault?" Gohan asked in disbelief.

The door to the washroom opened. Bulma shakily emerged from the room, but she lacked her usual radiance. "Because if you could eat no problem, then it should be safe." She groaned pitifully. The pilot swayed a bit before she leaned her back against the door.

The young boy looked perplexed. Gohan asked aloud, "What do you mean because I can eat it?"

"Back when- **blargh** " Krillin tried to speak only to turn his attention back to the bottom of the bucket.

Bulma shuffled herself out of the washroom and continued where he left off. "Back when we travelled the world with your dad there were times when food was a little scarce. So we had to improvise." She started to fumble around the spaceship looking for something. "So we sat him down and we fed him everything that we could get our hands on. If his iron stomach could keep it down, that meant that it was safe to eat. If he started looking a little green, then that was probably poisonous."

After rummaging around the floor Bulma finally found what she was looking for. A bottle of water. She popped the cap and swished it around in her mouth before she rushed back to the washroom.

Krillin pulled his head up for some air while Gohan handed him napkin which he accepted gratefully, only to glare at the boy with contempt immediately after. "This is your fault." He reiterated. "You eat just as much as Goku, but your stomach's more stubborn than Chi-Chi."

Gohan gave a heavy sigh. He left Krillin on the floor to give the sickly man some space. When he passed the washroom, he could already hear Bulma going through another bout of sickness, which made Gohan even more uneasy.

The young saiyan made his way to the kitchen. He hoped to find something that Bulma and Krillin could keep down. Checking both the fridge and the many capsules that they packed for the trip, Gohan was getting rather nervous.

The queasy twosome lurched into the kitchen. Their hands hovered over the stomachs, looking to Gohan with a silent plea.

Gohan looked to them glumly. The empty fridge and the dozen of empty capsules spread across the countertop.

The namekian ship touched down onto a nearby planet. The spikes sunk into the dark blue dirt of the spongey surface. The bottom hatch opened up and Gohan dropped out in his traditional purple gi.

Bulma stuck her head out and looked down at him from inside the spacecraft. "See if you can find anything that looks edible. Once you see something, just poke it with this," Bulma tosses down a weird looking device with a pointy stick coming out of one end. "That will tell us if it's safe for humans to eat or not. Green for yes, red for no."

Gohan heard another muffled voice from further inside the ship "Is it working? We could always test it out using the leftovers from your cooking…"

"I heard that Krillin!" The inventor yelled back. Bulma gave her attention back to Gohan. "Anyway, be safe and call us if you run into any trouble. I'll kick Krillin out to give you a hand."

Gohan gave her an affirmative nod and headed into the woods.

 _Beep._ "Edible." Gohan pulls the white multi-headed flower from the ground and places it into the bag he was given.

 _Beep, Beep._ "Not edible." He stepped over the writhing mass of green roots underneath a tree.

Gohan continued the rather monotonous duty of food checking, not really paying attention to what he prodded and poked as he made his way through the alien landscape. Until he came across something that looked like a rather large lump of meat in the bushes.

It was covered in yellow skin, with strange bumpy texture. It appeared to be made up of three separate pieces, with overlapping plates, or ridges along the exposed hide. Gohan gave it a crusatory glance before he gave it a sturdy jab.

 _Beep._ "Its edible!"

"Don't eat me!"

The yellow meal ticket jumped into the air suddenly and cowered before the small child. Beneath the furthest edge of the yellow hide was some type of head. Gohan even saw what appeared to be folded up legs beneath the alien in front of him.

When Gohan was finally able to assure the alien that he was not going to eat him, it finally lifted its head from the yellowish dirt to look at the would-be predator. Three bulbous eyes stared at Gohan. Mandibles were opened wide in apparent surprise.

"Are you okay?" Gohan asked. He noticed the rather frayed look in its eyes and the way its limbs trembled.

"You look really weak," Gohan laid his sack of food on the ground. "I have some food, would you like some?"

The alien dug into the open bag with gusto, multiple words of thanks were heard between bites. When the alien finally took its head out of the sack, there was not even a crumb of food was left.

Gohan internally sighed and gazed wistfully at the empty bag. _"Looks like I going to be out here for a while longer"_ , he thought. At least his new alien friend was feeling better now. But what made it practically starve itself hiding out here?

He soon learned the reason that his friend has been hiding in the woods for weeks was because there was another invader on the planet. Mep, the creature in question, told Gohan the crisis that had befallen his planet.

He was one of the Sarangu, the largest species on their planet they have named Sarga. Many of his people, himself included, are hiding from the terrorizer that has destroyed many of the settlements on the planet. They call her "The Galactic Conqueror". The Sarangu are not fighters in any way, so they have no way to oppose her.

Even though this invader has already destroyed many of their towns, not a single life has been taken due to their sturdy bodies. But Mep was still afraid, even though the invader could not really hurt him, it still _hurts_ to get hit.

Gohan stretched his senses out as he tried to find where this "Galactic conqueror" was. He opened his mind and closed his eyes. He focused on any major shift in chi that was nowhere near Mep's level. The world around Gohan became muffled while he searched the planet for anything that was beyond the peaceful life that covered the world.

His eyes opened.

The invader that is terrorizing Sarga seemed…weaker than most of the foes that Gohan has fought before. Nappa and Vegeta could have easily destroy her without a problem.

But Gohan and Krillin could easily stop them. "Don't worry Mr. Mep, my friends and I will put a stop to this invader."

Mep thanked Gohan even more for his generous offer and wished him luck as the young boy flew off into the sky. Gohan clicked on the radio Bulma gave him. "Bulma? Are you there?"

There was some shuffling in the background before there was a reply. "Sorry Gohan, she's back in the washroom. Whatever she called dinner is trying to kill her the slowest way possible." He paused to clear his throat. "So what'cha you need?"

He was about to tell Krillin everything Mep told him. Gohan opened his mouth, "You see Krillin on the planet-"

"Oh no!" The sound of the radio being dropped and feet running across the floor were the next sounds heard before the other end went silent.

" _Krillin isn't in any shape to fight, and it wouldn't be right to leave Mep's people at the invader's mercy. Someone might get hurt."_ Gohan thought. So he made decision. He is going to take care of this invader himself.

When Gohan started to get closer to the source of the chi he sensed, he could see a warpath that was made by the invader. Trees were upturned, or blasted to cinders, the wildlife was hesitant to go near the remains that still smoldered. Even a few of Sarangu poked their heads out the rubble of their homes and tried to salvage what they could.

" _Maybe I should call Krillin."_ Gohan thought, after he saw more the damage caused by "The Galactic conqueror."

The line of devastation was simple, like whoever did this was out for a stroll and didn't really care where they tossed their chi. Gohan started having some second thoughts about facing her alone, before a small flash went off in the distance. He must be getting closer. Gohan sped towards the source. When he finally saw the destructive invader, Gohan was surprised.

Really surprised.

It was a kid. She was flinging her arms back and forth while explosions went off across the landscape. Her long orange hair practically touched the ground as it weaved and bobbed with her movements. A stray chi blast from her hands destroyed a rock, a hiding place for one of the Sarangu. It dug its head in the ground, too afraid to move.

Gohan dived down in front of the innocent bystander and braced himself. The chi exploded against his crossed arms. "That's enough!" Gohan called out into the smoke.

"Oh? Someone actually has some guts to stand up to me?" The conqueror taunted, only to laugh. She sounded like she was everywhere.

The smoke started to dissipate, Gohan could just make out her shape. When the smoke finally settled, Gohan was finally able to get a good look at his opponent.

She had powder blue skin with cold blue eyes and alien-looking pointed ears. She folded her arms beneath her white blouse, taking in her opponent. "They think a baby like you can stop me? Go home to your mommy kid." She scoffed.

"Who you calling a kid, you don't look much older than I am." Gohan replied as he moved into battle position.

When Gohan called her a kid, her left eye twitched. She defiantly put one foot forward and angrily cried out, "Who you calling a kid!" She retorted childishly before she reigned in her temper. "I am a Zangya, junior member of the Galaxy Soldiers, the strongest mercenaries in the galaxy." Zangya smirked at Gohan. "Fight us and we will bring the power of the stars down on your head. Do you think you can take me on?"

Gohan avoided her challenge and asked her the only question he had on his mind. "Why are you hurting these people and their planet?"

Zangya shrugged, her hair bounced with the movement. "Uncle Kogo said that before they take me on any missions I need to get stronger. He told me the best way to get stronger would be to dominate this world in the name of Galaxy Soldiers." She boasted. "Now-" Zangya charged forward.

Gohan saw her coming and blocked her fist as she tried to break his guard. Zangya's face was only few inches away from his own. "Be a good boy and play dead." She replied flatly. His leg kicked out, and surprise flashed across Zangya's face before she was tossed aside by the hit.

With a flip in the air, Zangya landed on her feet away from Gohan. She rubbed her sides where Gohan landed the hit. "You're tougher than anyone else on this planet. How many planets have you conquered?" She asked.

"I haven't conquered anyone." Gohan replied before he made his own rush against Zangya. A barrage of fists rained onto Zangya as she easily kept up with Gohan's speed. Seeing an opening, the shorter boy kicked out her legs from under her, which broke the hera's defence. He brought his fist forward, with enough power to launch her away from the still cowering Sarangu behind him.

Instead of punching Zangya away like before, his fist collided with her shin which blocked the punch. She continued hier attack with other leg, which kneed Gohan in the chin and launched him into the air.

As he spun from the force of the blow, Zangya flew into the air after him and charged up her chi.

When Gohan finally stabilized himself, Zangya unleashed a **Finger Beam** into his chest, which stunned the half-saiyan as he started to fall towards the ground. Zangya smiled, before she charged forward to smack him out of the sky.

Before she could hit him, Gohan reached out and latched onto her outstretched arms. Both Zangya and Gohan struggled for control as they both fell through the air, neither able to focus enough to fly. They hit the ground hard making a dent in the earth with dust was kicked up by the impact.

Both children groaned. They slowly untangled themselves from one another before they remembered what they were doing and leaped away from the each other. The saiyan and hera were both covered in bruises and panting heavily.

Zangya took in a big gulp of air before addressing her opponent. "Your pretty strong kid." She panted. "How about you join me and be a junior-junior member of the Galaxy Soldiers. I'm sure I could put in a good word for you with the Boss."

"I don't want to join you." Gohan replied, his left eye was already starting to swell from her elbow during their fall to the ground. "It's mean to hurt people for no reason."

"No reason?" Zangya said. Stupefied by Gohan's answer it took a moment to set in before her her face scrunched up in anger. "My Uncle told me the best way to test your strength is to show the universe your power. To make the world tremble beneath your feet with every step." She grasped the pendant around her neck. "You need to make the galaxy fear you, that's the only way that no one will ever hurt you again!" She yelled. Zangya removed her hand as her pendant started to glow.

"Just because your strong doesn't mean you can hurt people!" Gohan could sense her power as it quickly rose. Something big was coming his way.

" **Trap Shooter**!" The heran girl unleashed a barrage of chi blasts, devastating the landscape. Rocks, tree, and everything else were blown apart or outright incinerated by the attack.

The boy jumped into the air, only to see Zangya move to follow him as the blasts ascended along with him at a slower pace. Gohan raised his hands above his head and focused his chi, he could only make one shot before he would be peppered by Zangya's attack. " **Masenko-Ha!** " His beam dove in a straight line towards Zangya, higher than her own attack.

Zangya's assault immediately ceased when Gohan's blast knocked her back into a tree, she smashed right through it and hastily rolled away before she was caught under splintered wood as it fell. She slowly pushed herself off the ground, her arms shook from the strain.

She glared up defiantly at Gohan who was still up in the air. Some of her orange curls were stuck to her face with sweat. "It's not over yet!" She yelled, before she flew through the air and faced down Gohan. "Go home kid, or else!" After Zangya made this proclamation, she sped off into the distance.

Gohan knew he could not let her get away. If he let her go now, she would just go back to terrorizing Mep's people. "Come back here!" He followed her through the sky.

Zangya landed in front of a strange ship in an open field far from where she initially started battle. A blissful look settled on her face. The hera saw the approaching the speck of Gohan in the sky and smirked.

The saiyan was only a few moments behind her. He saw the ship, it could only be described as small metal pyramid. It maybe had enough room for one or two people at the most. Gohan could sense chi actually being generated _by_ the ship. _"But for what reason?"_ He thought.

"I warned you, and now you're going to get it." Zangya cried out in anger. She begun to glow. "I never thought that I do this here, but you are really starting to piss me off." Chi was being transferred from the ship its hera owner. Her pendant and earrings started to float from the intensified energy in the air. "You will fear me!" Her hands shot out in front of her. **"Psycho Thread!"** Strings shot from her finger tips, they darted towards their target.

Gohan leaped out of the way. He did not like how much chi she needed to use this attack and definitely did not want to get hit by it. The boy struggled to evade the strings, they slowly blanketed the entire area. Like a massive web, the threads were nearly invisible to the naked eye. Gohan had to devote his entire focus just to dodge them.

Something caught Zangya's eye. "That's a first." She grunted. "They usually just cower like the wimps they are."

Gohan followed her eye and gasped.

"Mep!"

His new alien friend had caught up with him he was just on the edge of the clearing and some of the threads were already making their way toward him. The crept along the ground and Mep had no way of knowing that he was about to caught in the Galactic Soldier's grasp.

"Look out!" Gohan dashed forward and pushed Mep out of the way, only to be ensnared by the threads himself. Before he knew it, his arms were wrapped to his sides and his legs were tightly bound together. He could feel his strength being pulled from his body. He felt himself being pulled somewhere and he could make out Zangya's blurred face within an orange-blue blob.

"The **Psycho Threads** drain your strength until you pass out or worse. Maybe after this you'll never mess with me again." Zangya said, but to Gohan her voice sounded miles away. "The other Galaxy Soldiers would stop beating up on me once they see how much this planet fears me. They would respect me." Her voice wavered. "I won't let you take that away from me! I'll make this planet suffer, starting with your friend here and now!"

Gohan saw her raise her hand, an open palm pointed somewhere he could not see. She was going to hurt Mep. He could not do anything to help. He was still wrapped tightly in the threads, his consciousness slipping. He was stuck. He was going to lose another friend because he couldn't move.

Just like Mr. Piccolo.

Gohan's eyes snapped open as power surged through his veins. His aura spiked. He could see clearly now. Zangya was in front him and with wild eyes filled with panic.

"That's not possible. That's too much, too much-Aah!" The threads attached to her hand exploded. The ones that were wrapped around Gohan followed afterwards. The chain reaction was carried through the threads and the clearing and the ship were engulfed in the explosion. Both of the children were thrown back by the blast.

There was not a cloud in the sky when Gohan opened his eyes. His body ached head to toe and he could feel the chill of the wind through the holes burned in his gi, it also gave him a really uncomfortable feeling on his burns. He tried to raise his head, only for his neck to give out and clunk against the ground. Gohan groaned from the pain, and started to whimper.

Gohan blinked. His cheeks felt dry. The crying was not coming from him. He pushed himself onto his elbows again and tried to find where the crying was coming from. He painfully turned his head around to find the source.

The pyramid ship was completely destroyed. Pieces of it were scattered everywhere and they looked impossible to put back together. Zangya was sat with her back against the largest piece left. Her head thumped against the small smouldering piece of metal repeatedly.

Gohan pulled himself to his feet, his body was numb all over so it made it easy for him to coup with the pain. He limped his way over to the sniffling Zangya, who stopped banging her head to glare at the victor of their battle.

Zangya looked at him for a moment with tears in her eyes, before she wiped them away with the back of her dirtied hands. She turned away from and muttered, "What do you want?" She sniffled as she tried to stop herself from crying in front of him. "You win. I won't mess with this planet anymore. So why are you still here?" Her voice cracked hoarsely with the last word.

Much to Zangya's visible disdain, Gohan sat next to her against the wreckage. He opened his mouth a few times and they only sound Zangya could hear was the sound of his lips, they smacked together as he tried to speak. She started to slowly inch away from him only to stop when he finally started to talk.

"I had a friend who thought a lot like you once."

Zangya stopped.

"He wanted to rule the world and to do that he made sure that everyone was afraid of him."

She looked at Gohan and scoffed. "Oh now you'll tell me that he was stopped because some kid with a chip on his shoulder said no."

"Something like that." Gohan blushed. She really took some of the wind out of his sails with that. "But there was more to it than that. For years, people always saw him as a monster, the way he could easily kill almost anyone on the planet with a single punch." Gohan started to sniffle as he thought back to when he first met Mr. Piccolo. "He beat me into the ground day and night, tossed me into a mountain and off cliffs, and punched me in the face so much that it hurt to smile."

Zangya grimaced at the tears that started to go down Gohan's cheeks.

"It was the greatest time of my life."

Zangya jumped in surprise. She stared at the boy with wide eyes.

"He was really harsh with training, but he wasn't a cruel person like everyone thought he was. He nice to me when he thought I didn't notice." Gohan stared into his lap as he fiddled with his gi. "When we fought against some really bad guys who came to our planet, I was so afraid of them I couldn't move."

Gohan hugged himself tightly as he remembered that day back on Earth.

Zangya tilted her head in confusion at his strange behaviour. First he was sad, then he was happy and now he was shivering in fright. _What's wrong with this kid?_ She thought.

"I was going to die, but he jumped in front of me and took the hit. He could have easily left me to die, I wasn't any real help in the fight. He told me before he died, that I was his first real friend. The only one who ever looked past the big green monster that everyone was scared of to see something even he didn't know he even had." Gohan looked up at Zangya.

Zangya was quiet. Her face was scrunched up in thought before she whispered, "So what does this story have to do with me?"

"You shouldn't just fight for yourself. You'll never get stronger like that. Real strength comes from fighting to protect those close to you. Fighting for your friends."

"…But I don't have any friends."

"What about the other Galaxy Soldiers?"

When Gohan mentioned her company, Zangya's face contorted into a grimace. "They aren't my friends."

"Why not?" Gohan asked.

"Because soldiers aren't supposed to have friends." Zangya started. "We are meant to fight and conquer planets, not to frolic about having adventures." Zangya huffed, only to drop her head in disbelief. "But they are all I have." She whispered.

"What if we become friends?"

The Galactic Solider jerked her head up. Gohan had a big stupid grin on his face while he looked at her. "What?" she asked.

"Well, I've never had any friends near my age and you were really fun to fight." Gohan rubbed the back off his head, only to flinch from the pain. "Except maybe we won't be so rough on each other."

"You want to be my friend? What happened to that whole stopping me from doing bad things?"

"My Dad always told me that everyone deserves a second chance. I just needed to make you listen."

"Okay." Zangya took a deep breathe in and out. She looked Gohan in the eyes and said, "Let's be friends." She held out her hand to him.

Gohan smiled. He reached out to shake her hand…

Only to be suddenly pulled away.

All of the sudden Gohan was being tossed in the air by Mep and his people. Dozens of the sarangu had flooded the clearing. They were cheered for Gohan and cried out.

"Gohan stopped the Galactic Conquer!"

"Hoorah for Gohan The Mighty!"

Despite the soreness of his body, Gohan laughed at their cheerful display as they continued to juggled him in the air. At the pinnacle of one toss, Gohan saw Zangya near the woods, away from all the commotion.

Their eyes met. They shared a small smile, then Zangya was gone. _"I hope she will be okay."_ Gohan thought. She didn't seem like that bad of a person. A chitin covered hand waved in front of his face brought Gohan out of his thoughts.

"Thank you Gohan, son of Earth for stopping the Galactic Conqueror." Mep said. "Is there anything we can do to repay you?"

"How the heck did you get all this food!?" Bulma cried.

Krillin was too busy as he tried to pick his jaw off the ground. A mountain of boxes filled to the brim with food were outside of the ship, along with a dozen or so locals that kept adding more boxes to the pile.

Gohan's face was flushed with embarrassment. "The people here are really nice."

"And how did you get all beat up?"

Gohan shuffled his feet. "Ummm…you see…" He rubbed the back of his neck in nervousness.

Bulma sighed at the rather open answer from the boy. "At least this way we won't have to worry about having enough food for way home." She gave the pile of crates a quick look over. "Once you and Krillin get it all loaded up we'll get back on track to Namek."

After taking as many crates of food as they could carry and getting them onto the ship, the boys strapped in while Bulma guided the ship into take-off. When they were finally back in space, Krillin and Gohan got around to talking about what exactly happened on the surface.

"So Gohan," Krillin started with a smile at his younger companion. "Did anything interesting happen while me and Bulma were puking our guts out?"

The boy smiled. "Yeah. I met a new friend and I guess you could say that we had a lot of fun." Gohan's face dropped. "But I never really got to say goodbye."

One of the crates started to shift. When the wood scrapped against the floor, both Krillin and Gohan jumped. Warily, the slowly approached the box of what was supposed to be food as it continued to shuffle across the floor.

After they shared a quick glance, Gohan and Krillin nodded before they both settled into their stances. The Turtle master moved his arm forward and undid the latch.

The crate sprang open as a small blue and orange figure tipped the box over in her attempt to escape. Half-eaten food tumbled out along with a blue skinned child.

"Zangya?" Gohan cried out in surprise.

Before Krillin's very eyes, the rather roughed up girl leaped off the ground and begun to berate Gohan. Yelling at him saying stuff like, "that it is all his fault" and "you don't say something like that and disappear."

Bulma looked behind her in exasperation. "What did you two do? I'm trying to fly-" Only to stop mid-sentence at the two children in front of the befuddled Krillin. She tried to look to him for answers, only to get a shrug in return as they both turned their attention back to the intriguing argument in front of them.

"..First, you appeared out of nowhere," The alien was in the middle of a tirade. "And you beat me up…"

Bulma and Krillin looked at Gohan in shock.

"Then you blow up my ship,"

Their eyes bulge at the thought of Gohan who actually destroyed.

"Then you did something that made me feel funny inside. And you think you can just walk away from me!?" She folded her arms. "You have to take responsibility for this Gohan."

Krillin passed out with those words. Bulma looked to Gohan for an explanation, hoping it was just a bad choice of words.

"I sorta blew up her ship by accident, can my friend come with us to Namek?" The young saiyan asked, as if he was just asking her over for dinner.

"So you just beat her up and she became your friend?" Bulma questioned.

"Yeah. Was that bad?"

Bulma sighed wistfully. "No. Just a having little bit of déjà vu."

 **A/N:**

 **Been on a DragonBall kick for the past few weeks and I am ashamed for all of you. There is so little content for Zangya. Its woman in a series dominated by men. Where is the love for a character that got less screen time than Chaoitzu's death? Anyway just wanted to write a little something involving her and Gohan. Might do more with them in the future.**


End file.
